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The term liberal arts refers to the education derived from the Classical education
Classical education

The Classical education movement advocates a form of education based in the traditions of Western culture, with a particular focus on education as understood and taught in the Middle Ages, with a further glance back to the Ancient Greece concept of Paideia....
 curriculum
Curriculum

In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of wiktionary:deed and experiences through which children grow and mature in becoming adults....
.

term liberal arts denotes a curriculum that imparts general knowledge and develops the student’s rational thought and intellectual capabilities, unlike the professional
Professional

A professional is a person who has completed a doctoral or law program or equivalent .A professional is someone who has a professional degree - a number one on the Hollingshead scale....
, vocational, technical curricula emphasing specialization. The contemporary liberal arts comprise studying art
Art

Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music and literature....
, literature
Literature

Literature is the art of written works. Literally translated, the word means "acquaintance with letters" . In Western culture the most basic written literary types include fiction and non-fiction....
, languages, philosophy
Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, justice, validity, mind, and language....
, politics
Politics

Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behaviour within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporation, academia, and religion institutions....
, history
HIStory

HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I is a double album by Michael Jackson, released on June 20, 1995, and is Jackson's ninth. The first disc, named "HIStory Begins" consists of a selection of Jackson's greatest hits from the singer's past fifteen years, while the second, named "HIStory Continues" features new songs, with the...
, mathematics
Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space, change, and related topics of pattern and form. Mathematicians seek out patterns whether found in numbers, space, natural science, computers, imaginary abstractions, or elsewhere....
, and science
Science

In its broadest sense, science refers to any systematic knowledge or practice. In its more usual restricted sense, science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge based on scientific method, as well as to the organized body of knowledge gained through such research....
.






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The term liberal arts refers to the education derived from the Classical education
Classical education

The Classical education movement advocates a form of education based in the traditions of Western culture, with a particular focus on education as understood and taught in the Middle Ages, with a further glance back to the Ancient Greece concept of Paideia....
 curriculum
Curriculum

In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of wiktionary:deed and experiences through which children grow and mature in becoming adults....
.

History


Definition

The term liberal arts denotes a curriculum that imparts general knowledge and develops the student’s rational thought and intellectual capabilities, unlike the professional
Professional

A professional is a person who has completed a doctoral or law program or equivalent .A professional is someone who has a professional degree - a number one on the Hollingshead scale....
, vocational, technical curricula emphasing specialization. The contemporary liberal arts comprise studying art
Art

Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music and literature....
, literature
Literature

Literature is the art of written works. Literally translated, the word means "acquaintance with letters" . In Western culture the most basic written literary types include fiction and non-fiction....
, languages, philosophy
Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, justice, validity, mind, and language....
, politics
Politics

Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behaviour within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporation, academia, and religion institutions....
, history
HIStory

HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I is a double album by Michael Jackson, released on June 20, 1995, and is Jackson's ninth. The first disc, named "HIStory Begins" consists of a selection of Jackson's greatest hits from the singer's past fifteen years, while the second, named "HIStory Continues" features new songs, with the...
, mathematics
Mathematics

Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space, change, and related topics of pattern and form. Mathematicians seek out patterns whether found in numbers, space, natural science, computers, imaginary abstractions, or elsewhere....
, and science
Science

In its broadest sense, science refers to any systematic knowledge or practice. In its more usual restricted sense, science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge based on scientific method, as well as to the organized body of knowledge gained through such research....
. In classical antiquity
Classical antiquity

Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome....
, the liberal arts denoted the education proper to a free man (Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
: liber, “free”), unlike the education proper to a slave
Slavery in ancient Rome

The institution of slavery in ancient Rome reduced those held to a condition of less than persons under Roman law. Stripped of many rights, including the ability to marry, slaves were the property of their owners....
. In the 5th Century AD, Martianus Capella
Martianus Capella

Martianus Minneus Felix Capella was a paganism writer of Late Antiquity, the founder of the trivium and quadrivium categories that structured Early Medieval education....
 academically defined the seven Liberal Arts as: grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and music. In the medieval Western university
Medieval university

Medieval university is such an institution of higher learning which was established during Gothic art period and is a corporation.The first Europe medieval institutions generally considered to be University were established in Italy, France, and England in the late 11th and the 12th centuries for the study of Liberal arts, law, medicine, a...
, the seven liberal arts were:
  • the Trivium
  1. grammar
    Grammar

    Grammar is the field of linguistics that covers the conventions governing the use of any given natural language. It includes morphology and syntax, often complemented by phonetics, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics....
  2. rhetoric
    Rhetoric

    Rhetoric is the art of using language as a means to persuade. Along with logic and dialectic, rhetoric is one of the three ancient arts of discourse....
  3. logic
    Logic

    Logic is the study of the principles of valid demonstration and inference. Logic is a branch of philosophy, a part of the classical Trivium . The word derives from Greek language ?????? , fem....
  • the Quadrivium
    Quadrivium

    The quadrivium comprised the four subjects, or arts, taught in medieval University after the trivium . The word is Latin, meaning "the four ways" or "the four roads": the completion of the liberal arts....
  1. geometry
    Geometry

    Geometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers....
  2. arithmetic
    Arithmetic

    Arithmetic or arithmetics is the oldest and most elementary branch of mathematics, used by almost everyone, for tasks ranging from simple day-to-day counting to advanced science and business calculations....
  3. music
    Music

    Music is an art form whose media is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics , and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture ....
  4. astronomy
    Astronomy

    Astronomy is the science of Astronomical object and Phenomenon that originate outside the Earth's atmosphere . It is concerned with the evolution, physics, chemistry, meteorology, and motion of celestial objects, as well as the physical cosmology....


The liberal arts include the visual arts

Renaissance
Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe....
 supporters of the visual arts — architecture
Architecture

The term architecture can refer to a process, a profession or documentation.As a process, architecture is the activity of designing and construction buildings and other physical structures by a person or a computer, primarily to provide shelter....
, painting
Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . In art, the term describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting....
, sculpture
Sculpture

Sculpture is Three-dimensional space artwork created by shaping or combining hard and or plastic material, sound, and or text and or light, commonly Stone sculpture , metal, glass, or wood....
, classed as mechanical and manual arts
Artes Mechanicae

The Artes Mechanicae are a medieval concept juxtaposed to the seven Artes liberales. Already Johannes Scotus Eriugena divides them somewhat arbitrarily into seven parts,...
 — argued their inclusion to the liberal arts, among said advocates were Leon Battista Alberti, Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italy polymath, being a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, Painting, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer....
, and Giorgio Vasari
Giorgio Vasari

Giorgio Vasari was an Italy Painting and architect, who is today famous for his biography of Italian artists, considered the ideological foundation of art history writing....
. In Italy, and among Renaissance humanists, the academic matter was decided around 1500, yet it required another century in Spain and England.

Liberal arts colleges


Liberal arts college
Liberal arts college

Liberal arts colleges are primarily colleges with an emphasis upon undergraduate study in the liberal arts. The Encyclop?dia Britannica Concise defines "liberal arts" as a "college or university curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing general intellectual capacities, in contrast to a professional, vocational educati...
s are schools emphasising undergraduate study in the liberal arts. A full-time, four-year course of study earns the student either a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin language Artium Baccalaureus, is an Undergraduate education bachelor's degree awarded for either a course or a program in either the liberal arts, the sciences or both....
 degree or a Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science

A Bachelor of Science is an bachelor's degree academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years ....
 degree; on completing undergraduate study, students might progress to either a graduate school or a professional school
Professional school

Professional school may refer to:*Business school*Dental school*Journalism school*Law school*Library school*Medical school*Public policy school...
 (business
Business

A business is a legally recognized organization designed to provide good s and/or Service to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalism economies, most being privately owned and formed to earn profit that will increase the wealth of its owners....
, law
LAW

LAW may refer to:* Anti-tank warfare, e.g. the US Army M72 LAW or the British Army LAW 80*Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights ...
, medicine
Medicine

Medicine is the art and science of healing. It encompasses a range of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
, theology
Theology

Theology is the study of the existence or attributes of a deity or gods, or more generally the study of religion or spirituality. It is sometimes contrasted with religious studies: theology is understood as the study of religion from an internal perspective , and religious studies as the study of religion from an external perspective....
). The teaching is Socratic, to small classes, and at a greater teacher-to-student ratio than at universities; full-time teachers give classes, rather than graduate student teaching assistants. Despite the European origin of the liberal arts college, the term liberal arts college usually denotes liberal arts colleges in the United States
Liberal arts colleges in the United States

Liberal arts colleges in the United States are undergraduate institutions of higher education in the United States. The Encyclop?dia Britannica Concise offers the following definition of the liberal arts as a, "college or university curriculum aimed at imparting general knowledge and developing general intellectual capacities, in contras...
.

Further reading

  • Blaich, Charles, Anne Bost, Ed Chan, and Richard Lynch. Defining Liberal Arts Education. Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts, 2004.
  • Blanshard, Brand
    Brand Blanshard

    Percy Brand Blanshard was an American philosopher known primarily for his defense of reason. A powerful polemicist, by all accounts he comported himself with courtesy and grace in philosophical controversies and exemplified the "rational temper" he advocated....
    . The Uses of a Liberal Education: And Other Talks to Students. (Open Court, 1973. ISBN 0-8126-9429-5)
  • Friedlander, Jack. Measuring the Benefits of Liberal Arts Education in Washington's Community Colleges. Los Angeles: Center for the Study of Community Colleges, 1982a. (ED 217 918)
  • Joseph, Sister Miriam
    Sister Miriam Joseph

    Sister Miriam Joseph Rauh, Congregation of Holy Cross, Ph.D. was a member of the Sisters of the Holy Cross. She received her doctorate from Columbia University and was professor of English at Saint Mary's College from 1931 to 1960....
    . The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric. Paul Dry Books Inc, 2002.
  • Pfnister, Allen O. "." The Journal of Higher Education. Vol. 55, No. 2 (March/April 1984): 145-170.
  • Reeves, Floyd W. "." The Journal of Higher Education. Vol. 1, No. 7 (1930): 373-380.
  • Seidel, George. "." The Journal of Higher Education. Vol. 39, No. 6 (1968): 339-342.
  • Winterer, Caroline.The Culture of Classicism: Ancient Greece and Rome in American Intellectual Life, 1780-1910. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002.
  • Wriston, Henry M.
    Henry Merritt Wriston

    Henry Merritt Wriston was a United States educator and served as president at both Brown University and Lawrence University.Wriston was born in Laramie, Wyoming, the son of a Methodist minister and a schoolteacher....
     The Nature of a Liberal College. Lawrence University Press, 1937.
  • T. Kaori Kitao, William R. Kenan, Jr."The Usefulness Of Uselessness" Keynote Address, The 1999 Institute for the Academic Advancement of Youth's Odyssey at Swarthmore College, 27 March 1999


See also

  • The Mechanical Arts
    Artes Mechanicae

    The Artes Mechanicae are a medieval concept juxtaposed to the seven Artes liberales. Already Johannes Scotus Eriugena divides them somewhat arbitrarily into seven parts,...
  • Bachelor of Liberal Studies
    Bachelor of Liberal Studies

    The purpose of the Bachelor of Liberal Studies degree is to provide students with a solid multidisciplinary preparation in the Humanities, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences and the Arts, subsequently allowing them to pursue careers in education, business, government, and other such fields....
  • Bachelor of Liberal Arts
    Bachelor of Liberal Arts

    The Bachelor of Liberal Arts is the title of an undergraduate academic degree. Generally, it is awarded to students who major in liberal arts, pursue interdisciplinary studies, or design their own concentrations....
  • Bachelor of General Studies
    Bachelor of General Studies

    A Bachelor of General Studies degree is an undergraduate degree, offered by some universities in the Western world. It is very similar to a Bachelor of Arts degree, although there are often fewer requirements for studies in humanities and social sciences....
  • Bachelor of Arts
    Bachelor of Arts

    Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin language Artium Baccalaureus, is an Undergraduate education bachelor's degree awarded for either a course or a program in either the liberal arts, the sciences or both....
  • Great Books Program
    Great Books Program

    A university or college Great Books Program is a program inspired by the Great Books movement begun in the United States in the 1920s. The aim of such programs is a return to the Western Liberal Arts tradition in education, as a corrective to the extreme disciplinary specialisation common within the academy....
  • Great Books Programs in Canada
    Great Books Programs in Canada

    Great Books Programs in Canada are university/college programs inspired by the Great Books movement begun in the United States in the 1920s. The aim of such programs is to return to the Western Liberal Arts tradition in education....


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